noobcook.com Archives - 20 February 2012, Monday

Apple crumble (or apple crisp in US and Canada) is a dessert dish of baked apples topped with a crisp crust. I learnt to make this dessert during my secondary school home economics class, ages ago. I have forgotten almost everything I studied in school but I still remember this recipe...

Last week, I had the great pleasure of meeting tigerfish from teczcape when she came back to Singapore for a few days. Tigerfish recently published a cookbook, The Everything Rice Cooker Cookbook , and I was really lucky to receive a signed copy from her. Prior to tigerfish’s cookbook...

I cooked a homely ribeye steak dinner with black pepper sauce on Valentine’s Day . Our plate looks quite gourmet, but it only took me under 30 minutes to prepare and cook this meal, and I would say the result is really well worth the time & effort spent. Steak dinners are perfect for ...

It’s less than a month to Christmas and it’s time to share some festive recipes, starting with this sparkling raspberry drink. You can serve this drink anytime of the year, just that the addition of chopped raspberries gives the lemonade such a lovely red hue that it somehow reminds m...

came over my place to teach me how to make tiramisu, a popular Italian dessert. She taught me the layered cake version and I experimented with serving it in a martini glass because I wanted to try something new while using up the odd amount of leftover ingredients after making the tir...

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simple strawberry muffin at nibbledish and I know that this is the perfect recipe to use for the strawberries – the recipe looks simple and I just know it will be good. I made minor changes to the recipe, and the end result did not disappoint – the muffins are absolutely delightful. I...

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present in the form of an uber cute Hello Kitty Choco Chef . It is a gadget for making home-made chocolate with Hello Kitty moulds, but what really caught my attention was the electric chocolate cooker which screams “chocolate fondue party!” to me. There are two preset temperatures fo...

Ever since I discovered making pizza the cheater’s way a year ago, my family had stopped relying on pizza delivery. My 15 minutes short-cut pizza – using pita bread (instead of making pizza dough from scratch) and readymade sauce (such as pasta sauce) – comes to the rescue whenever I ...

1. De-scale salmon skin and de-bone the fillet. Season with salt and pepper. 2. Partially pre-cook the salmon either by using the microwave (1-2 minutes) or using the stove. The salmon need not be cooked thoroughly because it will be baked in the oven later. If you do want to skip thi...

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I had a lazy (but totally enjoyable) Saturday and stayed at home to play Prince of Persia the whole day instead of going out or doing anything useful. Hence no time for fancy meals, but one still got to eat ;) So I made a whole tray of baked rice where B and I had for both lunch and d...

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Crème brûlée (French for “burnt cream”) is a popular dessert with a custard base and topped with caramelized sugar. It is considered a gourmet dessert with equally gourmet prices when ordering outside, but it is actually easy, cheap and fast (minus the chilling time) to prepare at hom...

I love soy bean milk, or affectionately known as “tau huey tzui” in Singapore. If I buy them from random stalls, they are usually quite diluted and tastes very syrupy. There are nice ones like the Selegie and Rochor brands but they are not available everywhere. So I thought it will be...

1. In a pot, add danggui slices with water and bring to a boil. Blanch broccoli, mushrooms and carrots in the dangui stock for 5 minutes and arrange on a plate. Reserve the danggui slices for next step. 2. Heat saucepan. Add in pre-prepared sauce, spring onion stalk and the danggui sl...

, I am able to whip up decent, quick and fuss-free meals on busy days. All I need to do is to bake some cooked pasta with bolognese sauce and cheese, and we have a delectable pasta meal with minimum effort. Even though this is not a traditional Italian way of cooking with bolognese sa...

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I love bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese), a meat-based pasta sauce originating in Bologna, Italy. I love my instant sauces and quick fixes in the kitchen, but when it comes to bolognese sauce, home-made wins hands-down in taste to me. Luckily, making bolognese sauce is not difficu...

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or Chinese New Year Cake at home during the lunar new year celebrations for auspiciousness. The Chinese word “nian gao ” 年糕 sounds like “higher year” so it signifies greater success in the coming year. The stickiness also represents family togetherness and closeness. After the celebra...

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1. Process half of the prawns in a food blender for a few seconds to get finely minced prawn meat. For the remaining half of the prawns, chop them up roughly using a knife. 2. In a bowl, add minced prawns, minced meat, water chestnuts, garlic, spring onions and the marinade ingredient...

This is a quick, easy and fail-safe meal to make. It is a great choice for busy weekday nights, when I want to cook something but do not want to think too hard about how/what to cook. For those who do not take spicy foods, this curry is perfect for you because it is not spicy at all, ...

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Refrain from bitter and sour foods as they are considered inauspicious. Try to prepare excess food with the intention for leftovers for the following 1-2 days. Do not say things like “let’s try to finish all the food”. The Chinese prefer to have leftovers which symbolizes lots of savi...

(CNY) is just a few days away (23 January, Sun), have you bought your bak kwa (Chinese bbq pork jerky) yet? By this time, there will be long queues at popular bak kwa stores and the prices will be sky high (at least S$40 per kg). I have always hated queuing so I almost never buy bak k...

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or Luo Han Zhai 罗汉斋 (罗汉全斋 if 18 ingredients are used) is a popular vegetarian dish in Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. For those who are not familiar, it is a more elaborate version of our local chap chye with a longer list of vegetarian ingredients. It is considered auspicious to eat th...

1. Use kitchen tweezers to pull out stray hair on the pork belly skin, if any. Use a knife to scrap the skin for a few minutes to remove impurities. Rinse pork belly stab and pat dry with paper towels. 2. Holding a small knife in a stabbing action, make short diagonal slits with the t...

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- Shaped like a pineapple signifying prosperity and good fortune, Fortune Pineapple Tarts are filled with aromatic pineapple pulp within a soft baked crust. Individually wrapped to retain its freshness, Fortune Pineapple Tarts make the perfect gift for your beloveds. - Those who prefe...

As the scallops cook, they will release a very tasting scallops broth which are collected in the shells. The broth is superb but I do not want my baked scallops to be watery. Do not discard the broth as it is good stuff. Hence I bake the scallops without toppings for 5 minutes first a...

I love salty and savoury stuff so it is no surprise that I like miso soup, which is a must-have side whenever I am eating Japanese food . Another great thing about miso soup is that it is so quick, easy and cheap to prepare, it is almost like instant food preparation to me. Do not boi...

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I love beef stew, not just because it is so delicious – it is also super easy to cook and feeds us for an entire day and sometimes two (leftovers can be reheated and for some reason, stew often tastes better the next day). This is a perfect laze-at-home weekend recipe. My method of ma...

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Clam chowder in under 20 minutes? Yes, it is possible thanks to the wonders of the microwave oven which cooks food in the fraction of the time. Another short cut I used is canned clams. Instead of steaming or boiling fresh clams, I use a can of pacific clams (both clams and clams brot...

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Since 2008, I have been posting a round-up of my favourite recipes on the last day of the year. It has now become a happy tradition. Here is a round-up of my favourite recipes from each month of 2011: 1) January – Spicy Baked Potato Wedges 2) February – California Handroll 3) March – ...